Many individuals engage in exercises and workout regimes that involve portable mats. Whether employing mats for yoga, sit-ups, or other exercises users must (1) unroll and/or flatten the mat for use, (2) roll, fold, or otherwise manipulate the mat after use (hereinafter referred to generally as “rolling”), and (3) store the mat while not in use. For many users, rolling can be an undesirable time-intensive task. Further, after the mat is rolled, if it is done ineffectively, it takes up more space than required and can be difficult or cumbersome to handle. When a mat is ineffectively rolled, it is also prone to being damaged during transport and storage.
Some known apparatuses and methods of rolling a mat effectively include large and costly industrial equipment that is designed to produce a very tight coil of the mat. Besides being incapable of daily or repeated use by the consumer because of the industrial equipment's cost and size (i.e., they are designed for one-time use with a mat), these machines do not provide the user with the ability to store the mat effectively after the first use. Further, many of these devises are employed for use only with mats, carpets, or bags of a larger thickness, making them both structurally and operationally inapplicable for use with mats of a lower thickness, i.e., approximately 0.5-1.5″ in thickness.
Some known apparatuses and methods of rolling and storing a floor mat include attaching, via adhesive or one or more rivets or other fasteners, rigid rectangular rolling members at the distal ends of the mat. These apparatuses and methods present many problems, as users are unable to use the rolling members with other mats. Further, the shape of the rolling members inhibits the user from forming a tight rollup. Additionally, to store or maintain the coiled mat in said configuration, the apparatuses employ a coupling mechanism that demands that one or more portions of the mat to which the coupling mechanism is coupled to be made out of a particular material, e.g., Velcro.
Additional known apparatuses and methods are designed specifically for rolling and storing sleeping bags, which creates many disadvantages for users when applied to mats, such as yoga mats. For example, many of these bag-rolling apparatuses employ two bars defining a slot in-between, wherein the slot is shaped and sized to receive a thick sleeping bag, which is generally of thickness ranging between 3-8″. Because of this size limitation, the configuration of the two bars would generate a larger than desired diameter of a coiled mat. Further, because of the type of material used for sleeping bags, the width of the apparatus is sized to be larger than the width of the bag being rolled. This again is problematic for many users desirous to roll mats in an effective manner because the apparatus takes up more space than desired. Further, these known apparatuses also do not give the ability to store and transport the bag after being coiled. Lastly, because of size and/or the type of material used for sleeping bags, the manner in which the bags are retained and stored in their coiled position is ineffective or inapplicable for use with mats.
Therefore, a need exists to overcome the problems with the prior art as discussed above.